Chad Owen (Annuity Agents Academy) discusses a recent client who considered canceling annuity coverage believing he could "do better in the market." Owen counters by explaining how market cycles can erase long-term gains (example: repeated 50% declines), describes guarantees provided by an annuity income rider and the value of guaranteed lifetime income, and stresses that older clients (example: 48 → 58) have less capacity to recover from downturns. He advocates being direct with clients—using a blunt personal anecdote about a doctor to illustrate how candidness can provoke positive change—and encourages agents to protect clients with safer retirement options.
Chapters
Hello, Chad Owen with Annuity Agents Academy. I want to share a conversation I just had with a client to help you understand maybe how to get through something like this yourself with one of your clients. Basically, I met with this guy a week ago, and yesterday I called to schedule another appointment. Excuse me, I actually already had an appointment scheduled with him. And he called saying he went into cancel, that, you know, he could do better in the market. Long story short, I set him pretty straight on some of the statements he was making. And I just got done with my appointment with him because he did. He goes, you know, okay, I still want to meet with you. I still want to go over what you want to have to say. Long story short, I was talking about the guarantees on the income rider and how they work. And he finally understood, yes, these are guarantees. Yes, it does work that way. But one of the major objections I overcame with him because he was saying, well, I've always done good in the market, always been in the market. I know what I'm doing. And I said, first of all, I said, whoa, whoa, whoa. I said, if you always have been in the market and you really know what you're doing, why are you not worth 4 or 5 million dollars? Because let's just say, for example, you have 500,000 in the market and 2000 and 2003 hits and you lose 50%. So now you have 250,000. And let's say you gain back a little bit and now you end up back around 500,000. And let's say you repeat this cycle again, and from 2000 to 2012, the S& P was at the exact same spot. So ch it out yourself. It's true. 2000, 2012, the S& P was at the exact same spot. So if you're that good, that means you could get out when the bottom of the market. When it, when you're at the top, you can get out the top and you can get back in the bottom. If you're that good, how come you couldn't time that? If you're that good, how come your broker couldn't do that? How come your broker can't get you out when it's at the top of the mark and put you back in one at the bottom and you're not a multi, multi millionaire. If you don't need safety and security, then why aren't you.
Let'S just say, why don't you have more in your retirement? And he goes, man, that's a good point. He goes, really? If my broker was doing as good as he says he is, he would have gotten me out at the top and got me out and put me back in the bottom. But that's not how it works. And then I said, and here's another thing. Ten years ago, you were 48 years old. Now you're 58 years old. You can't afford another market downturn. And I'm not telling you where the market's going up or the markets go down. We don't know that. We know the market's crazy. We know it's over inflated, we know that. We just don't know why. We don't. We know there's going to be a cycle market going down, market going up. We know that, but that's not the point. The point is, do you like the idea of safety and security? Because as an annuity agent, license only, life license guy, I can't give any advice on whether they should get in or out of the market. But I can say, do you like the idea of safety and security? Do you like the idea of not going down when the market falls down? Do you like the idea of having guaranteed income for the rest of your life and having a set value each that gets credited towards that income account value? Do you like that? Well, yeah, of course I do. Then why wait? Because I had another guy tell me this was a few months ago. He goes, man, if I was 10 years younger, I would have done this. I said, no, you wouldn't have. He said, because it's 10 years later and you're still not doing it. And you need to protect more money more now than you did then, and you're still deciding you don't want to do this. So don't tell me you would have done this 10 years ago. It's okay to be direct with our clients and really as long as we're truly caring about their situation. You're not trying to be direct to be a punk or trying to be direct to be rude or think you know so much more. It's not the case. But I have a story that, you know, when I was. I used to be a lot heavier. I got up to 262 pounds, and I was starting to have some heart palpitations. And I went and saw this doctor, and this doctor looks at me straight in the eye and he goes, you fat? You always be fat. That's why you're having heart problems. And I'm like, wow, that was. That was really direct, really brutal. But, man, he was right. And he goes, you always be fat. And I was like, man, I'll show you I'm not going to be fat anymore. I lost 32 pounds. Heart palpitations went away. But I'm kind of convinced that he knew deep down inside if he challenged me and said, you will always be this way, it would stir something up inside of me that made me change for the better. And I think sometimes we have to do that with our clients. We have to challenge their situation and what we can do to improve it and get them out of the volatility they're in. So if you can use this for your clients and help you get a sale and help protect your clients, I encourage you to do so and leave comments below if you want. If you have any questions I've started going through. If I have any comments below, we have a question. I will answer those comments. I go through them every time and I'll respond to you. So once again, you have a great day. Happy selling. We'll talk to you later. It.
